Hope On The Rocks/Issue 4

104, Scavenger Hunt

A staircase leads up to the upper floors of the building. Up there, there is a few apartments, and also acces to the roof. Texas used to live in one of the six apartments up there.
“How does it look?” Chad whispers to Nick, who is walking through the hallway, on the front. We decided to check out the apartments for food and shelter. You don’t sleep well on the floor of that bar.
“Quiet.” Nick whispers back, flashlight pointing at another staircase, leading up to the third floor, where Texas used to live. In his other hand, an old 9mm was ready to shoot.
“Allright. Take Texas with you up there. We’ll check those rooms.” Chad says, and stops as he get to the first door. He looks at me, and then at Odin, before opening the door, quietly. A rotten smell flies out of the room, and hits us in the faces.
“Holy shit.” Odin says, and covers his mouth and nose with a cloth scrap. He is the first of us to walk inside. I follow.
A blonde woman, with a revolver in her hand, and a gunshot through her head. Even though she has only been there for a couple days, she smells horrible.
Odin walks over and opens a window. He takes the revolver and pushes the woman off the bed. He nods to Chad, who walks over and helps him getting the corpse away.
“Hello?!”
I look at Odin and Chad, wondering. It didn’t sound like Texas or Nick. I haste out of the room and yell: “Anyone here?”
“Hello? I’m in here!” A man’s voice yells.
I open the door to where the voice comes from. Chad and Odin are behind me, guns raised. The door seems to have locked itself.
“Get away!” Chad yells and kicks in the door.

The man looks arabic, in his late 20’s or early 30’s. As he sees the guns, he raises his hands.
“Easy.” The arabic man says, nervously. “What’s going on here?”
“That’s a helluva question.” Chad says, his gun aimed at the arabic man.
“What do you mean?” The man asks and looks at us. Texas and Nick are now in the hallway too.
Chad looks at Odin for a short moment, and then back at the man.
“You don’t know anything?” Chad says and slowly lowers his gun.
“About what?” The man looks worried at us.
Removing his gun Chad takes his hand towards the man and says: “Chad Bottom.”
The man takes the hand and shakes it; worried; nervous; confused. “Ailim Halib. Just Al.”
Chad looks at Nick. “Take him down to the others. Give him some food, and tell him what’s going on.”
Nick nods, and walks down the stairs, down to the bar again. The man, Al, looks at Chad for a second, before following Nick down.

I scavenge with Odin, Chad with Texas. We are currently in the room where we found Al.
“Finding anything useful?” Odin asks, while I am searching the kitchen cabinets.
“Some cans with food. A few biscuits. Not much.” I reply and place a can of tomatoes in my bag. “You?”
“Not really. Some clothes, a few batteries.” Odin says.
I look down, thinking about my sister, whom’s skull i crushed with a bat. I am thinking about my parents, who i will never see again. I don’t know why this thought suddenly occur to me.
“You know...” I begin, feeling like I need to tell somebody about my family. “I killed my sister.”
Odin turns around and looks at me. I continue: “She had turned... I had to.”
A few minutes, we’re silent. None of us say anything. The first one to break the silence is Odin; “I am so sorry, Miles. I had no idea.”
“My parents... They might still be alive out there somewhere. I will probably never know.” I say and look up, into the cabinet.
“I am sure, they’re fine.” Odin says, trying to comfort me.
I smile and turn around. “Thanks.” I say before continuing with the scavenging.